‘A Minecraft Movie’ teaches us to build
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf
From the moment that Steve (Jack Black) steps onto the screen to the closing credits, “A Minecraft Movie” is a delightful romp sure to please children and their parents. I will confess that I didn’t expect to take much away from the movie, but the overarching theme of embracing creativity against those who would destroy speaks to our present moment as a nation.
At its heart, the movie is an ode to dreamers and outcasts — those who have been persecuted because of their creativity or forbidden from pursuing their goals. Steve is foremost of these, and discovers the way into the Minecraft world, where creativity is limitless and the only bounds on what you can make are your imagination.
While he enjoys an idealistic existence for many years, soon a new danger troubles the land of Minecraft, and new “roundlings,” or people from our world, enter Minecraft by accident. A quest begins to take shape, as they seek a path home and Steve seeks to save the land that he has grown to love.
In the midst of all the explosions, gratuitous naming of objects instantly recognizable to fans of the game, and introduction to all the “mobs” of Minecraft, there exists a real message that was useful for me as a pastor to hear. So much of our world seems to be consumed by reports of downsizing government agencies, new rules or regulations, the upending of alliances and the economic order. All of this is perhaps best illustrated by Elon Musk, who wielded a chainsaw to show his glee and commitment to cutting the government down to the quick.
It can feel like what is happening in Washington is a galaxy away and that we can do little to affect it, but what we do in our local communities matters a great deal. What matters most is that we do not cease to build.
Steve utters his one-sentence sermon near the end of the film, when he says: "It's far easier to destroy than to create; cowards choose to destroy.” I cannot think of a more apt description of our current environment. Cowards are indeed determined to destroy, but they have very few ideas on what to build in its place. People like Musk and his confederates have absolutely no plan for how to ensure the flourishing of the average person. It seems as if they are hellbent on grabbing whatever loot they can from this country, with little care for whether that leaves the people who live here worse off.
Americans’ views on government efficiency and waste are varied. Regardless of your perspective, the truth of the matter is that, while government agencies and expertise can be cut with an executive order — literally overnight — it will be much harder to rebuild our scientific, legal, and cultural institutions. Destroying is easy, but building is difficult. Those of us who spend a lot of time in church know this to be true. We often worship in buildings that were created generations ago, and our religious institutions are fragile. One moral failing from leadership or pernicious conflict can ruin what generations of people built, reducing its capacity or even wiping it off the map entirely.
Where does that leave us? It can feel like what is happening in Washington is a galaxy away and that we can do little to affect it, but what we do in our local communities matters a great deal. We can choose to be creative there, honoring institutions and their places in our lives, seeking to preserve what we can, and unleashing our creativity in the service of protecting the most vulnerable in our midst from the repercussions that have been promised by the White House.
What matters most is that we do not cease to build. Those who want to destroy today have the upper hand, but I do believe that a new day will come, and when it does, we will need all the builders and dreamers that we can get.
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf is senior minister, Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois. He currently serves as the co-associate regional minister with the American Baptist Churches Metro Chicago. His book, published in 2023 by T&T Clark, is titled “Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically about Whiteness and Sanctuary Movements.” He is also the co-founder of Challenging Islamophobia Together Chicagoland, an initiative that brings together people of all faiths to counter Islamophobia from a religious perspective.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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